Main Round 1 Submission: Team Miyuki Kazuya/Miyuki Kazuya

[catlarks]

TITLE: Tapestry
SERIES: Daiya no A
SHIP: Miyuki Kazuya/Miyuki Kazuya
RATING: T
CHARACTERS: Miyuki Kazuya, Takigawa Chris Yuu, Tanba Kouichirou, Kawakami Norifumi, Kataoka Tesshin
SIDE PAIRINGS: Miyuki Kazuya & Takigawa Chris Yuu
MAJOR TAGS: none
ADDITIONAL TAGS: selfcest, injury, hospitalization, supernatural elements, time magic, one incredibly bad disguise
SUMMARY: Miyuki Kazuya gets pulled into an alternate universe where a younger version of himself is struggling to make it onto the first string at Seidou. The two of them resolve to try and change fate, but pulling at the first string may just unravel the entire tapestry.
WORK COUNT: 2,990 words, 9 images, 9 seconds (217 frames) animation
SCRIPT: [ script ] | [ image list ]
NOTES: Several of the images in our entry are gifs, however, they are slow-moving and should not require a warning for rapidly flashing images. That said, please enjoy this entry which our team has worked very hard on!

Threads of fate, spun like silk spiderwebs,
I spread my fingers to unwind the tapestry,
and read from it my destiny.
There is only one solution, one person I seek…

"Me."

Miyuki, not for the first time, looked down at the threads wrapped around his arms: thick and pulsing an eerie pink. They wrapped around the rest of his body as well, spilling down to the floor where they tethered him to a glowing circle on the floorboards of his dorm room.

Or, not his dorm. He recognized it well enough, even in the dark — it was the same dorm he’d had last year. And standing before him was…

Himself.

Miyuki’s doppelganger was still grinning at him from just outside the circle, closing some lofty book in his hands that clapped shut with a bang.

Miyuki frowned. “Okay, could you try explaining this one more time?”

“You don’t need to understand,” the Miyuki double said, leaning forward. “You just need to tell me about yourself. Or more importantly, your timeline.”

Miyuki clicked his tongue. “Yeah see, that’s great, but considering I just woke up in my old bedroom up all tied up in the dark, I’m gonna need a little bit more to go on.” He frowned. “Anyone ever tell you that you should take a guy out to dinner first?”

Miyuki’s counterpart huffed. “This isn’t your old room. This isn’t your anything. This is the universe next door, and I’m just borrowing you to get what I want.”

Miyuki shrugged. “Yeah, none of that means anything to me.”

“I’ve been dabbling in magic for a while,” Miyuki’s counterpart said with a put-upon sigh. “I figured out how to look through time. But it’s not always simple. Time changes with every action we make, so it takes a lot of work to figure out where your particular thread will go.”

Miyuki made a hurrying hand gesture. “You’re losing me. You’re gonna wanna speed up to the good parts. Abduction, maybe drugging. That kind of thing.”

His counterpart rolled his eyes. “Nothing like that happened. I brought you here for one thing. I want you to tell me how to become the first string catcher at Seidou.”

Miyuki raised an eyebrow. “I found what worked for me was being good at baseball. Next question?”

His counterpart sighed. “I’m you, so obviously we have the same skills.”

“Obviously we don’t, or you wouldn’t have brought me here.”

“I need you to tell me how you beat out Chris,” the counterpart said.

Miyuki felt his breath catch for a moment. He hoped his double wouldn’t notice but unfortunately, hiding things from himself proved to be more of a challenge.

“What? What’s with that look?” his counterpart pressed.

Miyuki didn’t answer, frowning instead. “So this is the past? You’re a first year?”

“Yeah,” his counterpart said. “But not your past.”

“Kinda figured, since I don’t remember getting into black magic last year.”

“Well, since suddenly you’re so interested in magic again,” his counterpart said, giving him a pointed look. “Our threads split at some point, some change that let you get on the first string. But not me. As far forward as I can see, I don’t make the cut. Chris does.” He pointed at Miyuki. “But you. You beat him.”

Miyuki frowned at him. “No.”

“You’re lying. I saw you were on the first string.”

“I am,” Miyuki said. “But I never beat Chris. He got hurt. His shoulder gave out. So I got in.”

Miyuki watched as his counterpart’s face fell. He spiked the book so that it hit his bunk. “Damn it. What good are you then, if you only had a shot because your rival got taken out by chance?”

Miyuki swiped a hand over his mouth, too busy considering to concern himself with his doppelganger’s anger. “I guess you could put it like that,” Miyuki said, slapping a cloying smile onto his face. “But don’t worry, kouhai! That doesn’t mean I can’t help like a good senpai.”

“Kouhai,” his counterpart muttered. “Are you trying to insult me now?”

“Of course not,” Miyuki said. “After all, I’m the older, more experienced one. And with two of us running around, we need some way to tell each other apart.”

“Two of us running around?” Miyuki-kouhai asked, raising an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you want to stay here.”

Miyuki-senpai shrugged, as much as the threads wrapped around him would allow. “Not permanently of course. But I was just thinking… I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious how things would have turned out if Chris hadn’t been hurt.” He turned a serious eye to Miyuki-kouhai. “I’d like to see it through, especially since you already brought me here.”

Miyuki-kouhai smirked, stepping in towards the summoning circle until he was just a touch too close for comfort. “You feel so inferior to your Chris that you’re willing to rough it in my dimension just to see if it can be done?”

Miyuki-senpai returned the grin. “I didn’t say ‘inferior.’ But…” He shrugged, and leaned forward as much as his bindings would allow him, pressing closer into Miyuki-kouhai’s space. “Maybe you’re right; I am being too generous. Maybe I should be charging for my services instead.”

“Well? What are your going rates?”

Miyuki-senpai’s grin grew wider. “Off the top of my head, I was thinking maybe you could teach me that neat trick you used to get me here. You know…” He moved his arms demonstratively, showing the threads that were digging into his forearms.

Miyuki-kouhai looked him over. After his quick appraisal seemed complete, he shifted his foot forward, breaking the circle that had been binding Miyuki-senpai. His bindings blinked out of existence, and for a moment he lost his balance with nothing to strain against. He stumbled, catching himself with barely an inch to spare between him and Miyuki-kouhai.

“I bet I can teach you a lot of neat tricks,” Miyuki-kouhai whispered.

Miyuki-senpai laughed. He reached out and patted his kouhai’s face before backing away. “Not as many as I can teach you, I’d bet, kouhai.” He stretched his arms a little, getting used to being freed. “So, what’s your plan then?”

“The fall practice game,” Miyuki-kouhai said. “It’s the upperclassmen versus the underclassmen. If I win there…”

“Then you can defeat Chris.” Miyuki-senpai nodded. “And to win, you’ll just need to make better use of your tools.” He grinned. “Luckily, I have quite a lot of experience with your tools.”

Miyuki laid a hand on Nori’s shoulder, beaming at him. “Don’t worry, Kawakami. We’ve got this one.”

“If you say so.” Nori sighed slightly, his gaze turning over to the other side of the field where the upperclassmen were warming up.

“Hey,” Miyuki said, pulling his pitcher’s attention back. “Don’t worry about them. Tanba’s a good pitcher, but he can be erratic.” Miyuki leveled his eyes with Nori, smiling. “You, on the other hand. You’ve got more stability. Stay steady and follow my lead, and we can sail right through this game.”

“How can you be so sure?” Nori asked.

Miyuki laughed. “Trust me.”

Nori’s hesitance seemed to ebb slightly, and Miyuki let his attention fall elsewhere. On the other side of the field, Tanba was rejoining the rest of the upperclassmen, a nervous look spreading across his face even as he returned Chris’s smile.

Miyuki grinned.

“Excuse me, Kawakami.”

Miyuki slipped off, darting behind the dugout to greet his identically dressed double.

“How’d it go, kouhai?” he asked.

Miyuki-kouhai shrugged. “I don’t really know about your plan. If Tanba can be rattled with just a few choice words about letting down his team, how is he a first string pitcher, anyway?”

“Have a little faith, kouhai.”

Miyuki-kouhai grimaced. “I assume you kept my pitcher warm for me.”

“Nori will do what you need him to do,” Miyuki-senpai said with a grin. “I know what gets him fired up. Trust me.”

“Fine.” Miyuki-kouhai gave him a look. “I hope you’re not planning to run around as me for the rest of the day. Someone will know something’s up if they see two of us.”

Miyuki-senpai grinned, leaning forward to pat his kouhai’s cheek. “Don’t you worry about that. Senpai has that covered, too. You just worry about winning the game.”

“Oh, I will.”

“Tired, kouhai?”

Miyuki-kouhai didn’t even bother glaring at him. They’d hiked out to a grassy field, far enough away that they could be fairly sure no one would stumble onto them. As soon as they were reasonably out of sight, Miyuki-kouhai had flopped down on the cool grass.

“Not at all,” he said, stretching out his arms. “Basking in the glow of my victory.”

Miyuki-senpai grinned as he settled down next to him. “So sure of yourself? Kataoka hasn’t even announced the roster yet.”

“We won!” Miyuki-kouhai said, throwing his head back in a laugh. “Or were you too blinded by that neon monstrosity you’re wearing to notice?”

“Don’t insult your elders. That’s another way to get on Kataoka’s bad side.”

Miyuki-kouhai smirked, folding his arms behind his head. “The old man would be a fool not to pick me with the way I played today.”

“And with hardly any help,” Miyuki-senpai said, folding his arms and grinning. “How do you feel about that ratio, anyway? Apparently it takes two Miyukis to beat one Chris.”

Miyuki-kouhai laughed. “I wouldn’t mind trying out that equation on the field. How are you as a pitcher?”

Miyuki-senpai let his arms fall, leaning closer to his counterpart. “About as good as you, I’d imagine.” He raised his eyebrows. “But just what makes you think I’d be the one pitching? If I remember right, I was the one who called your shots today.”

Miyuki-kouhai sat up, leaning forward towards him. “But I was the one out on the field, making the plays.”

“Doing what you were told, like any good pitcher.”

Miyuki-kouhai shifted, hitching a leg over Miyuki-senpai’s lap while turning to face him. Miyuki-senpai sat still, staring at his kouhai with a raised eyebrow.

“God, I still can’t stand your disguise,” Miyuki-kouhai said as he reached up and snatched Miyuki-senpai’s beanie from his head and tossed it to the side. His hair was left mussed, which only served to make his grin more insufferable.

“It was the best I could come up with on short notice, which…” Miyuki-kouhai tugged roughly at the scarf, trapping Miyuki-senpai’s words in his throat. Still, he collected himself and carried on. “Which is to say, I did an amazing job, as usual.”

Miyuki-kouhai yanked the the scarf off completely and tossed it to the side to rest in a small pile along with the beanie. Finally, his hands came to rest on the fake facial hair, running his thumbs over either side of the coarse material while cupping his double’s face in the process.

“Well, come on then,” Miyuki-senpai goaded. “Call the play, if you think you’re such a good catcher.” He grinned. “You know we’ve both wondered about the facial hair thing.”

Miyuki-kouhai darted in to kiss him, though Miyuki-senpai suspected that it may have just been to shut him up.

A moment later, Miyuki-kouhai pulled away, his lip curling slightly. “Facial hair is a no-go.”

Miyuki-senpai grinned. He reached a hand up to stroke his goatee thoughtfully. “I dunno, I kind of like it. Maybe it’s something you grow to appreciate with age. I think I’ll grow one of these when I get back.”

“Why haven’t you gone back yet anyway? I already showed you how to get back on your own.”

“And leave without making sure my kouhai can get along on his own?” He laughed. “Just what kind of senpai would I be then?”

Miyuki-kouhai leaned in. “Well, if you’re staying…” He picked at one of the corners of the goatee and, without warning, yanked it off of his counterpart’s face.

Miyuki-senpai hissed at the stinging pain, which only made Miyuki-kouhai grin wider as he threw the hair in the pile with the rest of the disguise.

“We’re not very nice, are we?” Miyuki-senpai asked.

“No.” Miyuki-kouhai pushed him back, pinning him on the ground. “I guess not.”

.

.

.

.

.

.

We thought we’d trumped destiny. We thought we’d jumped over to the right string but…

We were wrong.

.

.

.

.

I’ve always believed in destiny. I’ve always known that the threads weave together exactly as they should…

The slam of the door echoed through the dark room. Miyuki-senpai stood in front of it, glaring down at his old bunk. Miyuki-kouhai lay there, and even in the low light Miyuki-senpai could see the glint of his grin.

“Nice game, right, senpai?”

“Chris got hurt,” Miyuki-senpai said evenly.

Miyuki-kouhai pushed himself off the bunk, pulling himself to standing before Miyuki-senpai. “And I stepped up. Just like you did,” he said. “I even got our team past those two runs Chris let go with his slip up.”

“Slip up,” Miyuki-senpai repeated, swallowing against a lump in his throat. “I’d hardly call that a slip up.”

“He dove for a bad throw,” Miyuki-kouhai said with a shrug. “That’s reckless.” He grinned. “He should be more careful.”

“I asked around, since you weren’t. Seems like he tore his rotator cuff when he hit his shoulder the way he did. He’ll be out for a while.”

“And Seidou needs a catcher,” Miyuki-kouhai added.

Miyuki-senpai forced himself to look off to the side, knowing that if he made eye contact, the anger might just surge out of his careful control. “You know, Tanba can be unreliable at times. But I’ve never seen him throw a pitch quite that wild, let alone a throw to home.”

Miyuki-kouhai tipped forward, grinning as he forced himself into Miyuki-senpai’s line of sight. “Fate is funny like that, sometimes, isn’t it?”

In a flash, Miyuki-senpai had his counterpart pinned to the wall, fingers digging into his shoulders to keep him from squirming away. Miyuki-kouhai grabbed for his wrists to pull him off, but Miyuki-senpai only glared and pressed into him harder.

“I knew it. Why?”

“What do you mean ‘why’?”

Miyuki-senpai gave him just enough slack to make it really hurt when he slammed him against the wall again. “What was even the point of bringing me here, baiting me to help you, when all along you were just going to snap your fingers and tear Chris apart?”

Miyuki-kouhai glared back at him. “Don’t read this the wrong way. I tried to play things different. It just took me a while to figure out that I was going about it all wrong. This was inevitable.”

“What do you mean?”

Miyuki-kouhai smiled. “Don’t you get it? I was right. The only one that could help me was me. I needed another Miyuki to show me how to get past Chris. When Kataoka went with Chris, despite everything we’d done to prevent it, that’s when I realized… There was only one way to make the first string, and you told it to me right from the beginning.”

Miyuki-senpai felt the bile rise in his throat. “I… You did this because of what I told you… about my timeline?” His grip faltered for a moment and Miyuki-kouhai didn’t waste his shot, pushing forward out of Miyuki-senpai’s grip and pressing closer into his personal space.

“Don’t you see? This was the only way. This is how it was meant to be. Think of all the ways this could have gone down. Anything could have happened with that pitch. Do you think it’s just coincidence that in your thread and mine, Chris injures his shoulder?” Miyuki-kouhai pressed closer to him, cupping his cheek. “I wove the threads together the way they needed to go. The way you showed me. And we won!”

Miyuki-senpai stumbled backwards and, before Miyuki-kouhai could follow, struck out, fist connecting with teeth.

“Son of a—”

Miyuki-senpai cradled his fist, the skin of his knuckles split open and bleeding slightly.

Miyuki-kouhai swiped the back of his hand over his mouth, smearing away blood from his lips.

“This has nothing to do with fate,” Miyuki-senpai spat.

“It has everything to do with fate,” Miyuki-kouhai snapped. “You think you’d do differently? In my place? Can you honestly say you’d play it any other way?”

Miyuki-senpai pressed his lips into a thin line.

“You can’t say it, can you?”

Miyuki-senpai walked over to his counterpart’s bunk. Leaning down, he reached under the bed and slipped the book from its hiding place; the same place he’d kept many of his own personal effects stashed away his first year, he realized with a small lurch to his stomach.

The familiarity of this place suddenly felt sickening. Eyes averted, he whispered, “I’m leaving.”

“Fine,” Miyuki-kouhai said. “You know the way out.”

“You’re right,” Miyuki-senpai said, reaching for the door. “I do.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let this happen.”

Miyuki clasped his hands, running his thumb over the bandages that he’d hastily wrapped over his injured knuckles. Chris had asked about it, but Miyuki refused to answer.

Chris gave him a confused look, clouded with a good deal of concern. “I don’t under—”

“Don’t worry about it,” Miyuki cut him off. He looked away, not quite willing to make eye contact. Instead he looked down at the bag at his feet, and the book he’d borrowed from his doppelganger. He’d taken the liberty of flipping through more than just the pages that would get him home. He had what he needed. He could pull his own strings.

His expression settled, hardened with resolve. “Don’t worry, Chris,” he repeated. He looked up, this time managing to meet Chris’s eyes. “Just know that… I’m going to fix this.”

.

.

.

Threads of fate, wrapping around my limbs
like a silk worm’s cocoon — each outcome etched in the fabric.
Bent to my will, they reveal their secrets.
And now I see that only one can unravel the tapestry I’ve woven...

"Me."

Comments

[winterstuck]

that ending???? seriously, i want to read a continuation

the art is so *___* and making the threads glow like that really gives it a life that adds to the story, giving it both an ominous and mysterious feel, it was a really nice constant that tied the whole work together from start to finish, pun not entirely intended

i laughed at miyuki-senpai's facial hair and disguise, and at that point of the story it was still lighthearted and hopeful but dang, that mood whiplash. the scene where he then goes to apologize and promise to make things better was. just. beautiful imagery coupled with heartbreaking prose

i don't daiya but this was a captivating read

[catlarks]

This is such a sweet comment, I shared it with the team and on behalf of everyone, thank you so much!

The animation was something we all really wanted to add, so I'm glad to hear it gives that extra life to things that we intended. And I'm grinning over the mood whiplash, it sure was a deliberate choice for the disguise stuff to be something fun and lighthearted before shit hits the fan. I'm just really glad you enjoyed this, especially as someone not familiar with the canon! It means we did our job well and I am sooooo proud of this team. ^^

[qingtian]

goddamnit miyuki. smh. such a destructive miyuki. I love the beauty of the words and art, weaving together a kind of charmed and charged atmosphere, just like .. threads. :)

[catlarks]

Thank you Aozo!! We are all very glad you enjoyed it. c:

[psiten]

*how dare you*

That was really good. I got lost in some parts, which is probably to be expected since I don't know the canon, but this held together really well as its own piece. The timing was excellent, A+ work on those gifs, and the emotional punch was very real. Hence the "how dare". Good job guys.

[catlarks]

"How dare you" is always a wonderful response to receive to a work of fiction! :D :D

On behalf of our team, thank you so much! I'm really glad you could enjoy it even without a knowledge of the canon (definitely a goal everyone in saso is striving to meet). Although I'm a little bit curious which parts lost you, considering that it is a very close-to-canon AU and does draw on canon events.

[psiten]

It's hard to say "which parts" exactly... it's more like a general fuzz where I could pretty much tell what was going on, but I couldn't see the details... like spying on a conversation you can almost but not quite hear clearly from a corner of a dark room while no one knows you're there, but with no context. (Everybody has reasons to know what that feels like, right?)

Either way, GOOD JOB!

[alder_knight]

this was so unexpected and creative!

[catlarks]

On behalf of our team, thank you!

[intricacies]

FIRST OF ALL... WHO ARE/IS YOUR ARTIST(S) BECAUSE THE ART IS SO GOOD?? I thought the glowing parts fit so well and the images were so well done, and the scenes depicted so well chosen. I was particularly in love with the opening picture because /wow/ what a way to catch attention. All of the art is so gorgeous and I love all of the styles!!

Secondly, the writing was so good. I'm speechless? I know enough about Daiya to get what's going on (though some of it was spoilers to me, which I guess is better than not knowing the canon at all), and I want to say that I think both Miyukis' characterizations were on point? I especially loved the banter between the two of them when this all started—older!Miyuki not being that freaked out at all but still disbelieving in his own snarky, socially inept Miyuki way.

This entry was so captivating. The images were mesmerizing and the writing style flowed so well that I didn't even notice when I was approaching the end until I read the last sentence. I really do want a continuation somehow, of older!Miyuki fixing everything, of what younger!Miyuki does in the aftermath, but I guess this will have to do for now. :') The change between moods was so good, from the lighthearted humor of older!Miyuki's disguise to the disgust older!Miyuki held for younger!Miyuki's actions or lack thereof. I think the contrast/theme of this main round was especially poignant when they had the falling out, but that was part of what made this entry so good.

Thank you for this gem!

[bingualien]

LFKDSJAL HOLYYYY Ok I'm not into selfcest but you got me pretty close to shipping miyuki/miyuki jfc this was just an amazing ride. The art is so so good and just wow. I really love the style. I am a sucker for seeing the build up of visible strokes. The brush gives everything such a nice texture I'm just gushing over it all. And the story my god. The writing was so smooth and flowed so naturally. I enjoyed this a lot even though seeing Chris hurt made me want to cry ;u; But the ending!!!! jfc that was a fantastic way to end this! You guys did a wonderful job! ^o^

[karahashi]

I've been super excited to see what your team would come up with for your main round entries and this is breathtaking! You chose quite a different relationship to work with and it came through really well - I love how the theme came through in their contrasting outlooks, and it was super cool to see how their experiences have shaped them - still Miyuki, but one sharper, more ruthless.

This entry is formatted really nicely - the purply-pink of the magic and the threads of fate is an awesome idea and it definitely lends the work a spooky sort of feel. The slight glow and short animations are a really nice touch as well! Little things like the changes in font add a lot to the overall presentation. And I really like the lighting in the artwork throughout.

The textured linework is really nice! I adore the composition in that first picture with all the strings and the scissors, and poor Chris caught in the middle - it's dynamic and engaging, and it tells such a story right from the start! The positioning of the Miyukis and their hands is really good, and I really like how his arms have been drawn *o* The smug look in his eyes is really good as well!!

The third picture has lovely colour work and the slight outlines around each character look really goof! I like how there's a bit of colour in the lines around Miyuki's hair, how the background is so textured and atmospheric. ALSO THEY ALL HAVE WONDERFUL EXPRESSIONS AND POSTURES. The fourth picture too, with the lovely textured highlights *o*

I love the composition in all the pictures - the angle on Miyuki at his desk and then at the kiss scene - it's really beautiful and laid out so nicely! And I really can't get enough of how lovely the backgrounds are, how beautiful this colouring style is - how well it works with the lineart... Miyuki's chin in the kiss scene, and their hands...

And the focus on his shocked face with the glow in his eyes is really good - how it singles him out. The flow of his hair is really nice there! It's such a great leap from the scene before, too - it pairs so well with the lines you highlight:

We thought we'd trumped destiny. We thought we'd jumped over to the right string but...

We were wrong.

('the right string' this wordplay i am a fan of that)

And the glow of the strings seeping into the next picture, the bright pink and the unearthly blue - it's incredible and it makes a huge impact. The picture of Chris going down like that...the speed lines, his clenched teeth, his shocked eyes asghj;lfksfjkla

The lighting on the picture with Chris and Miyuki is so beautiful as always - the glinting specks and how they're both a little injured, and the expression on Miyuki's face ;___; This is such a sad picture, but so beautiful, and the dark purple tones are really really nice.

And I absolutely love the last picture with the different poses - catcher and not, the threads of fate still hanging around. It's a wonderful way to end (and wow, I want to know what happens haha)

So I've gushed about the art but the writing is just as spectacular - I love how snarky Miyuki is, even when he's tied up in a stranger's room staring his double in the face. It's really interesting to see how Miyuki deals with a personality so similar to his (or rather his own, if a little twisted).

Miyuki watched as his counterpart’s face fell. He spiked the book so that it hit his bunk. “Damn it. What good are you then, if you only had a shot because your rival got taken out by chance?”

The set-up for the plot was really, really good - it's such a believable overview of the situation and the coming conflict, and the concept of chance or fate and changing it. Reading it through again, it's amazing how this line and this conversation comes back to spite older!Miyuki.

Miyuki-kouhai shrugged. “I don’t really know about your plan. If Tanba can be rattled with just a few choice words about letting down his team, how is he a first string pitcher, anyway?”

This too - that glimpse of how ruthless Miyuki can be - both of them - coupled with Miyuki's usual confidence. It's a really interesting read, and absolutely true to character.

“Well, come on then,” Miyuki-senpai goaded. “Call the play, if you think you’re such a good catcher.” He grinned. “You know we’ve both wondered about the facial hair thing.”

lmao the small moments of humour here are so good as well i didn't quote before but like, charging for services, quite a lot of experience with your tools :P The banter is superb :D

“We’re not very nice, are we?” Miyuki-senpai asked.

“No.” Miyuki-kouhai pushed him back, pinning him on the ground. “I guess not.”

ALL THESE HINTS THEY'RE SO GOOD.

AND THEN CHRIS GETS HURT. It's intense, this bit - really well written.

“It has everything to do with fate,” Miyuki-kouhai snapped. “You think you’d do differently? In my place? Can you honestly say you’d play it any other way?”

Miyuki-senpai pressed his lips into a thin line.

“You can’t say it, can you?”

Miyuki-senpai walked over to his counterpart’s bunk. Leaning down, he reached under the bed and slipped the book from its hiding place; the same place he’d kept many of his own personal effects stashed away his first year, he realized with a small lurch to his stomach.

Man, oh man, this bit !! The way Miyuki wants to reject everything but can't, the familiarity of the room, the detail about them keeping their belongings in the same place. That they are the same person, just under different circumstances, and maybe he would have done the same thing. Probably, even. This whole idea of being confronted with the worst of yourself, knowing what you could be capable of.

He’d taken the liberty of flipping through more than just the pages that would get him home. He had what he needed. He could pull his own strings.

And this, because of course Miyuki would go through as much as he could. MAN I REALLY WANT TO KNOW HOW THINGS GO >.<

And I love how the beginning and end lines read like a spell! That chilling sense of dark magic throughout - I love what you've explored, both in terms of a relationship and a single character. All the best with the voting!

[flippinflakes]

You see my icon. Do you see it? It's me right now what the fuck is this it's so AMAZING??????????

The art is on point and tbh I have no clue how baseball works, I only recently knew that there were two baseball animes, I have no idea who Miyuki is but this still somehow got me interested throughout the entire thing. There was no point where I was confused or felt out of the loop. Somehow you managed to put this much magic, mystery, angst and drama into 3000 words without making it rushed at all. The pacing was beautiful and the dialogue was just great. I read through this like the speed of light but I never skipped a word! Great jooooob!!!